This is cool. This is some artwork depicting combat that actually happened between a Flying Tiger and a Japanese Zero. For those that do not know who the Flying Tigers or AVG are, they were an American private air force that flew combat missions for the Chinese, against the Japanese, with US blessing, all before and a little bit during the beginning stages of WW2. They were the only game in town for attacking the Japanese after the Pearl Harbor attack happened, and it is some very unique American war history. America also cheered this company on as they did their thing in China, all because this country wanted some payback. A movie was also made about this company, staring John Wayne.

I just came across the news of this comic or ‘graphic novel’, and this sounds cool. From the sound of it, these guys have really tried to produce a quality and detailed product, and the creators definitely have an interesting background. One of them was Eric Trautmann.

Eric was a writer for Microsoft and helped put together the story lines and dialogue for some famous video games. Here is a quote from his bio.

Among the titles that Eric helped develop were the smash-hit HALO: Combat Evolved (including editing chores on the first three HALO novels for Ballantine / Del Rey, as well as writing The Art of HALO, also for Del Rey); Crimson Skies(creating a strongly immersive in-universe website for the pulpy, two-fisted adventure setting; editing weekly serialized online pulp novellas; and editing and contributing to Del Rey’s mass-market paperback fiction anthology based on the setting); MechWarrior 4; and Perfect Dark Zero, acting as a story consultant to the property and helping to develop a fiction publishing program in support of the game.

He has also written some pretty cool comics and he is a well known author in that community.

What is most significant is that he has a personal connection to this comic and industry via his brother in law and security contractor getting killed in Iraq back in 2005. According to recent reviews, this comic is doing quite well and the author’s passion and personal connection to the subject is coming through in the artwork and words.

I have yet to read a copy, but I figured I would put it out there for folks to check out if they are at their local comic book store or online. You can find this comic for sale in the Jundi Gear store as well. –Matt

Shooters
By Eric Trautmann, Brandon Jerwa, and Steve Lieber
Shooters is an original graphic novel, published by DC Comics’ imprint, Vertigo (home of such acclaimed graphic novels as Preacher, Transmetropolitan, Sandman, The Road to Perdition and many others).
The book follows the career of Terry Glass — a Chief Warrant Officer in the United States Army, and a well-trained Special Forces operator — during the early days of America’s post-9/11 military actions in Iraq.
While in Iraq, Glass’ faces the creeping boredom of the infantryman, the adrenaline-charged terror of direct confrontation with the enemy, and finally, a shattering accident that leaves him both physically and emotionally scarred.
And that is merely the starting point of Glass’ journey.
There’s more than IEDs, enemy insurgents, and bullets to face. Recovering from terrible injuries, Glass faces his own private demons, the ruins of his marriage, and the moral uncertainties of life as a private military contractor.
From the official Shooters website.
—————————————————————-
iFanboy podcast
DON’T MISS: Shooters with Eric Trautmann, Brandon Jerwa and Steve
Download and listen here.
—————————————————————-Iraq War story hits close to home
Christian Hill
April 17, 2012
Tragedy turned comic book writer Eric Trautmann’s fledging story about a private military contractor personal in September 2005.
His brother-in-law, David Shephard, was working for Blackwater USA when he died in Iraq while protecting a State Department official on a security detail.
Shephard’s memory lives on in the 144 pages of “Shooters,” a black-and-white graphic novel that Trautmann co-wrote as “his counterfire against unnuanced portrayals of warfare” related to soldiers and contractors.
The story’s main character is based in part on Shephard, a former Lacey resident, as well as other soldiers Trautmann has met. Portions of the story set in 2003-04 take place at Fort Lewis.
The story centers on a former soldier who returns to Iraq as a contractor as he tries to cope with a traumatic experience during his Army deployment. It revolves around themes of duty and redemption while exploring current issues for an Army strained by two ground wars: post-traumatic stress disorder, a soldier’s adjustment into civilian life and problems at home.
Trautmann, 40, began writing the story as a traditional novel before Shephard’s death. It was his effort to reconcile what he considered the media’s portrayal of military contractors as out-of-control guns for hire with his brother-in-law and other contractors he met who were committed to improving Iraq and the lives of its people.
“War shouldn’t be black and white,” he said. “War is gray, and I wanted the book to be gray and maybe make people think a little bit before automatically assuming that’s a good guy, that’s a bad guy, because the world is too sophisticated and complicated.”

Thanks to David over at Kitup for getting the word out about this graphic novel. I have not had a chance to flip through this thing, but I wanted to get it out there as a very unique book for this industry to check out.

The authors and illustrator here have created not only a book and comic, but also the merchandise and FB role playing game to go with. That is smart business because all of it will help to promote the book. It will also help Hollywood and readers imagine the world that the author is describing, and that is what gives these types of books a lot of value.

I also thought it was interesting that if this ever was made into a movie, that the author had the actor Kurt Russell in mind as one of the leads. You never know?…..-Matt

Black Powder, Red Earth

By Jon Chang, Kane Smith, and Josh Taylor

2017. The nation of Iraq, mired in horrific civil war, splinters into three nations: Kurdistan, New Baghdad and Basran. Within 6 months Iranian religious, government and military proxies dominate Basran, host to over 60% of the former nation’s oil reserves.
Backed by Saudi petrodollars, the GCC(Gulf Cooperation Council) Protectorate contracts Cold Harbor, a private military corporation, to wage a war of ruthless intrigue and clandestine violence in the post-Iraq state using American special operations contractors.
2019. Now.

Check out their website here.
Buy the book at the Jundi Gear locker from Amazon here.

From an interview between John Chang, the creator of BPRE, and the blog Giant Robot.

MW: Where did the Black Powder \\ Red Earth story come from and why did you decide to turn into a game?

JC: Black Powder \\ Red Earth started out as a short story. As far back as 2002, I had begun interviewing a number of Special Operation Contractors who were rotating between CONUS (Continental U.S.) and Afghanistan (and later Iraq). These men had opened up a whole new world to me, where companies provided security, support, and operational services to a variety of U.S. government agencies. At the time, public awareness of such entities was very limited, so I began writing. This was the start of BPRE.
The story and characters went through many changes over the six years I worked on it. I tried to be ruthless with each draft, taking what worked and tossing the rest, crafting a tighter story, while, at the same time, working on a game experience set in the same universe.